Barry Bonds on Hall of Fame: 'I do really care'

Nov. 29, 2012
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Barry Bonds, attending an August cycling event in Colorado, is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. / Ford McClave, US Presswire

by Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

by Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

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Barry Bonds is making his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot, so it comes as no surprise that he's trying to rehabilitate his long-established reputation as one of the game's surliest players.

This summer Bonds was positively congenial in a reunion of the San Francisco Giants' World Series team of 2002, even posing for pictures alongside former antagonist and teammate Jeff Kent.

Bonds also entertained questions from news reporters, some of them the same ones he once humiliated by having them practically beg for morsels of his thoughts during his years as one of the game's preeminent players.

Voting for the Hall of Fame, of course, is conducted among members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, and Bonds' campaign to curry their favor seems to be continuing in his latest interview with one of his favorite scribes.

The all-time home run leader tells MLB.com's Barry Bloom that, despite pretending otherwise, the Hall of Fame does matter to him. Picture Sally Field telling the Academy Awards audience, "You like me,'' and you'll be on the right track.

"I do really care," Bonds told Bloom. "I may say I don't, but I do really care. I've been through a lot in my life, so not too many things bother me. Making the Hall of Fame, would it be something that's gratifying because of what I've sacrificed? Sure. Baseball has been a big part of our lives. We've sacrificed our bodies. It's the way we made our living."

More than five years past his playing days â?? at some point he might actually acknowledge being retired â?? Bonds has expressed regret for the way he handled some of his dealings with the news media. He reiterates those thoughts in the MLB.com interview.

"One day, I'll be able to say things the right way,'' he said. "But it's tough when you have so many people out there who don't want to turn the page and want to be angry at you forever. I don't understand why it continues on. What am I doing wrong?

"I can sit here and say, 'You know what? Baseball is great. I love it.' I can sit here and say in a very kind way that I'm sorry about the way things ended. I can sit here and say that I respect the Hall of Fame, which I do. But I don't understand all the controversy we're having about it. For what reason? What's there to be gained by all of this? What's the point?"

While some writers might hold grudges with players who treated them poorly, the BBWAA has elected plenty of media-unfriendly guys. Eddie Murray and Jim Rice come to mind.

But none of their achievements were tainted by the strong suspicion of steroid use as Bonds' were. His name appears on the ballot alongside other first-timers covered by the same cloud, including Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza.

"I want to be part of Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, but I don't want to be part of the kind of Hall of Fame that's based on voters' beliefs and assumptions,'' Bonds said.

"If you believe I'm a bad person, if you believe I'm a drug person, then I don't need to be a part of it. If you don't want to put me in for those reasons then that's fine. No worries. I'm OK with it. If you want to put me in for what I did as a player, that would be great. I'd love to be in there with everyone else who deserves it."